Worked Out
by Ossimo87
Summary: A glimpse into what Alex and Marissa could have been. Alex POV...rated M for a racy scene or two.
1. She's Beautiful When She Sleeps

Worked Out

Author's Note: This is just a little something I felt like getting out...I really like the idea of Alex and Marissa ending up together sometime in the future, married and happy. I don't know. Hope you guys like this. If you don't, let me know, k? Thanks.

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Alex or Marissa, though I wouldn't mind having either of them wink wink .

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I open my eyes, becoming aware immediately of the warm body next to me in bed. Looking over at the woman beside me, I smile at the sight of the same beautiful face I have been waking up to since I was eighteen years old. It's been twelve years already.

I reach up and trace my sleeping wife's eyebrow gently, following the delicate arch to its end and letting my finger slide down the side of her beautiful face...and I think back to our first year together. Often, when I have a quiet moment to just look at the amazing woman that I love, I find myself thinking back to that first year of our relationship. Difficult as it had been, it had changed my life permanently. Changed _me_ permanently, and for the better.

Things hadn't always been easy, hadn't always been good--but _she_ always had. And I will maintain that until the day that I die. My wife has always been good and always been just what I needed, even when we were just friends. It had seemed so easy for us to slip from friends to lovers, but when we did things weren't so easy anymore. A sigh escapes my lips as I remember those first few weeks. The turmoil, the pain, the love...things had been so jumbled, so confusing. But it had all worked out in the end for us, we were together and we were happy.

But this particular morning, I can't help but think back to when I had awoken next to Marissa Cooper the morning after making love to her for the first time. Our first time...

------------Flashback------------

_"Make love to me, Alex," Marissa breathed, kissing the side of my face repeatedly. Dazed and completely willing to do anything Marissa asked of me, I pushed thebrunette's hair away from her eyes and kissed her passionately as we fell back onto her bed._

_"Are you sure about this?" I asked her, needing to know that I wasn't rushing things with this incredibly gorgeous Newport socialite-to-be. I had pulled away enough to look into her blue-green eyes, and all I saw there was passion, love...and that was more than enough for me. Marissa nodded, her hands framing my face. As her fingers caressed the skin of my cheeks and chin, she just looked me in the eyes and tried to catch her breath._

_"I've never been more sure about anything. Please, I need you," she pleaded almost breathlessly. Tears almost came to my eyes but I forced them away, instead kissing Marissa deeply, letting her relax back onto the bed and cradling her head in my hands as I kissed her._

_The next morning, it was raining._

_When I opened my eyes, I experienced that trademarked moment of panic that you almost always experience when waking up in an unfamiliar place...then I realized that I was in Marissa's bedroom. A smile crept across my lips and I couldn't help the butterflies that fluttered in my stomach as I remembered the night before. For someone that had never been with another girl before, Marissa had been incredible--soft and beautiful and even confident at times. But maybe that confidence was just because she knew exactly what effect she had on me. I'm not sure...all that I can be sure of is that no one had ever tasted or felt as wonderful as she did, and I have not tasted or felt another person like that since then._

_It took me a few minutes to get to the point where I could stop staring at the ceiling, thinking about how I had gotten into the bed of the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. When I could finally function, I became aware of the arm draped over me, of the head resting on my outstretched arm. Finally I looked over at her, and my breath literally left my chest...Had I really made love to this gorgeous girl the night before?_

_Yes, I had. She had wanted me to, asked me to, and when I finally had she had loved it. It was the best sex I had ever had, which was saying a lot then. And it confused me--was I falling in love with this girl? It sure seemed like it, but we had only been dating for a couple of weeks. And Alex Kelly is not a girl that falls in love easily._

_But it was different with her. And I knew that as I lie there beside her, watching her beautiful face relaxed in sleep and the slight smile that played across her perfect lips. I decided then and there that I wanted to watch her sleep like that every morning, that I wanted to be the one that watched her wake up and the one that made love to her...but did I want that forever? I wasn't even sure that I believed in forever or happy endings or anything like that, but Marissa Cooper made me want to._

_I can't honestly say how long I lie there just watching her sleep, but when she finally awoke, I had never seen anything more beautiful than the first time her eyes opened after a good night's sleep. They were the most amazing color of blue-gray, altered from the blue-green that they were normally. I had just watched her, slack-jawed, unable to look away and completely unwilling to as she woke herself up slowly, stretching a little bit but never moving away from me._

_When she turned those gorgeous eyes on me, my heart almost leapt out of my chest._

_"Morning," she murmured, that slight smile that had been on her lips in sleep growing as she took in the position we were in. We were naked, tangled up in the sheets of her bed and tangled up in each other--our legs intwined with each others and her arm over my waist. I smiled back at her, as soon as I regained control of my facial muscles._

_"Morning. How'd you sleep?" I asked her. Her smile grew to incredible proportions, and she moved slightly so she was lying on her stomach, her chin resting on my chest. As she looked up at me, I swear to God she was telling me with her eyes that she was in love with me, even then, but I didn't call her on it._

_"I slept great...last night was amazing," she said, tracing her finger over my bare hip. Biting back a gasp at the contact, I nodded._

_"Yeah...it was. You were amazing," I told her, looking her in the eyes and trying to convey exactly how I was feeling. She met my gaze, understood what I was trying to tell her, and when she did she leant up and kissed me softly. It was a slow, soft, beautiful kiss not unlike the first one we had ever shared, and as I kissed her I made sure to pour all my heart into it--every ounce of feeling and every emotion I was feeling went into that kiss, and as she pulled away she looked slightly dazed._

_"Wow," she breathed, looking at me with half-lidded eyes. I nodded, unable to come up with anything to say in that moment._

_After a long moment of silence, just looking at each other, Marissa kissed me lightly again and got out of bed, leaving me lying there watching her beautiful naked body move. She was truly the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen, and as I watched her I remembered that. Nothing I had ever seen could simultaneously turn me on and turn me to mush and make my breath hitch all at the same time, but she could. She did. She still does._

_I didn't know why she had gotten up--I would have been content to stay in bed with her all day. But instead of getting dressed like I had expected her to, she came over to the side of the bed I was in and reached a slender hand out to me. I took it uncertainly, let her help me up. As I came out from under the sheets, her eyes dropped to my body and for a second she had the same look in her eyes that she had the night before, just before she had pleaded with me to make love to her. She looked back up at me, our eyes locked, and smiled._

_"My mom's going to come looking for me soon...I thought we should shower and head downstairs," she said, pulling me slowly by the hand toward her en-suite bathroom. I raised an eyebrow and let her pull me toward the shower._

_"We should shower? That's mighty bold of you, How do you know I want to shower with you?" I asked playfully, so she knew I was kidding. A sly grin crossed her lips as she reached behind her and turned the shower on, and she chewed on her lower lip lightly as steam filled the room._

_"Because you haven't been able to take your eyes off me all morning," she said, pulling me closer by my hand. I grinned, amused that she had caught me, and shrugged._

_"What can I say?" I asked her, leaning in closer to her, "You...are...gorgeous," I breathed, kissing her neck between words. Her hand found its way to the back of my neck, pulling me closer to her, and she gasped quietly as I began kissing my way up her neck to her jawline._

_"Come on," she breathed, tugging me into the shower with her._

_Needless to say, that was the best shower that I ever had._

------------End Flashback------------

Later on that day, Marissa had told her mother about our relationship...had moved out of the mansion and into my apartment. She had come into my apartment and kissed me and told me that she had told her mother, then we had made love for the better part of the afternoon. It became kind of a natural thing for us, the intimacy in our relationship picked up quickly and escalated beyond anything I'd ever experienced. I was in love with her, and I had fallen hard and fast. And that's the way that I've stayed ever since then.

She's still sleeping, and as I look at the clock I understand why. It's only ten minutes to eight, and she didn't sleep all that well last night. I can't help myself as I lean toward her, kissing her nose lightly and caressing her cheek with a barely-there touch.

That first night together had been fantastic, those first few months were great...but then things started happening between us that I wish hadn't happened. There were misunderstandings, miscommunications, and finally there was a breakup. Yeah...even though I knew that I was in love with her I left her standing on Newport beach with Ryan and all the other rich snobs she went to school with. Just walked away with my skeezy ex-con friends and didn't look back, even though I wanted to desperately.

When I had gotten into my Jeep that night to drive back to the apartment, I realized that there was no way that I could stay in Newport. No way. Not after her, not after Marissa. I didn't want a damn thing to do with that place after having and losing her, so I went home, packed my things, and left that very night. But where was I to go? Home had been where Marissa was, and I suddenly found myself very much without a girlfriend and very much without a home.

Determined not to fall back into anything with Jody, I went, not to LA, but south to Laguna Beach. Laguna was really no different than Newport, a rich place with spoilt rich kids that loved going to the club I ended up working at. They watched the live indie bands that came around, they drank their smuggled-in liquor, they made out and got into fights. They were Newport with different faces. They were Newport minus Marissa, which made them substantially less thrilling. They weren't the same. It wasn't the same. I went on autopilot, pouring drinks and doing paperwork and playing manager of Aqua, a well-established nightclub and hotspot for the rich kids in the area.

But things were never as good as they had been before...the sun never shone quite as brightly, the waves were never quite as good, I could never smile quite as genuinely. I made friends there, one good one in particular that I was very glad to have met.

Her name was Britt, and she was my assistant manager at Aqua. She was a great girl, about twenty when I met her, and she was the only person that I met in Laguna that accepted me with no questions asked. Only a year younger than me, she acted ten years more mature. Britt had been through a lot of things in her life--things similar to what I had been through with my parents and my sexuality and things like that. She was a lesbian, had been cast out by her parents when she was eighteen, and lived on her own in a small apartment on the beach. We ended up hanging out quite a lot, surfing and talking and drinking...she was a great friend.

When I told Britt about Marissa, she had been sympathetic. Of course she had been through something similar, and of course she understood. She let my cry on her shoulder and sack out on her couch when I was too drunk to drive home. She stopped me when I started drinking just a little bit too much, helped me when I needed out of a situation where a girl or guy just wouldn't take a hint and leave me alone. Britt and I got as close as Marissa and Summer had always been, which was great because I really needed it at that point in my life.

But nothing romantic ever happened between us--I was still in love with Marissa and she was crazy about our friend Lori, who also worked at the club. Besides, we were much too similar to ever have been together. We were great friends, and we still are.

We were such great friends, in fact, that when Marissa came into the club one afternoon looking for me, Britt was hesitant to let her know I was even there. She knew the pain I had been through, the things that had happened between Marissa and I, and my friend was torn between letting this girl back into my life or turning her away. But, knowing me as well as she always has, she led Marissa to my office, where I was doing paperwork.

I'll never forget that day...


	2. Reunited At Last

------------Flashback------------

_I had been working on one of the seemingly endless stacks of paperwork, sipping every now and then from a bottle of Corona that sat next to my hand on the desk. The stress of the day was beginning to get to me, my head was beginning to throb and I was ready to get out of there and have a stronger drink. Just as I was about to get up for another beer, the door to my office opened and Britt poked her head in, a funny look on her face._

_"Britt, what's up?" I asked her, pinching the bridge of my nose to get my headache to go away. Britt opened the door a little wider, stepped halfway in and sighed deeply._

_"Um...there's someone here to see you," she said, looking honestly worried. I raised an eyebrow and gestured with my hands for her to bring it on, whatever it was. The day was already going shitty--what could have possibly surprised me? Britt opened the door all the way and suddenly there she was...Marissa was standing right there, in the flesh, looking at me with those soulful blue eyes of hers. After almost a year, there she was._

_"I'm going to leave you two," Britt said, disappearing and closing the door behind her after Marissa stepped into the office. I stood up, stepped around my desk and leant against the front of it, just looked at her and tried to catch my breath. She was there, in front of me. Slightly more pale and noticibly thinner, but she was there anyway, and looking gorgeous. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and she was wearing a plain white long-sleeved top, designer jeans and some plain flip-flops. She looked as if she had stopped trying to be the glamour-girl she had always been._

_"What are you doing here?" I asked her, my voice low to soften the harsh nature of the question. She crossed her arms over her chest, looked up at me with those huge, beautiful eyes that I swear could always see right through me. Her eyes darted to the floor for just one second, then back up to meet mine._

_"I needed to see you. I...um..." she stopped, chewing lightly on her lower lip and looking away from me. I sighed, almost frustrated, and tried to calm the racing of my heart._

_"You what, Marissa? It's been ten months," I told her. I could not think of a single reason that she could have had to come find me after all that time. I hadn't heard from her once, hadn't seen her, hadn't heard a word about her in all those months. And now, out of nowhere, there she was--standing in front of me looking all gorgeous and grown up and taking my breath away. It almost angered me. Who did she think she was?_

_"I know it's been ten months...but I just needed to tell you something. I wanted to tell you before, and I've wanted to tell you ever since you left. I wanted to tell you that...to tell you that I love you. I don't think I ever told you that, but I always wanted to. I just...I just love you, I'm in love with you, and I always was," she said, her voice suddenly strong. She knew exactly what she was saying, and I could tell that just by the sound of her voice._

_For a minute I didn't know what to say or do. I stood there and looked at the gorgeous girl before me, remembered the feelings I had been harboring for her for the past almost-year. She was still the amazing girl I had fallen in love with all that time ago, the girl that I had told myself I wanted to wake up next to every morning. But I had left, she had let me. She had let me._

_"You're in love with me?" I asked her, though I had clearly heard her before. She looked back up at me, nodded. She was. I took a deep breath and chewed on my lower lip, copying her. She always did that._

_"If you're so in love with me then why did you let me leave?" I asked her, crossing my arms over my chest and copying that gesture of hers as well. I tried to be tough, tried not to convey to her through my eyes how much I still loved her and how much I would have loved to have her in my arms right that moment. Tried to keep from her how amazing I still thought she was and how gorgeous she was, even as unhealthy as she looked. She hadn't been taking care of herself, I could tell._

_"Because I was scared...I didn't know what else to do," she said, defensively. I scoffed, shook my head._

_"Well I was scared too, Marissa. I had never felt like that about anyone before. What did you want me to do? Watch you get closer and closer to Ryan? Watch you fall away from me? What did you expect?" I asked her, frustrated. I was still hurt, still wounded from our breakup, however long ago it had been. I was sure that there was nothing that could ever make up for the months of pain I had experienced._

_"Well I've never felt like this for anyone either. And I'm sorry that I let you go, I'm sorry that I lied to you, but I can't take all that back. It's history--and the reason that I'm here right now is to ask you about the future. I'm in love with you, Alex, I've always been in love with you and I'm always going to be in love with you. I want to marry you and wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life. I don't know what else to say outside of that, Alex. I really don't. That's how I feel, and you need to know that," she said. I could not believe what I was hearing for a second, so I just looked at her. Just looked into her perfect blue-green eyes. She looked even more gorgeous than before...her pale cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright, she was breathing slightly harder than normal because of how worked up she was getting. I hadn't seen her looking like that since the last time that we made love (which incidentally was weeks before we broke up)._

_"I don't...I don't know what to say to you," I told her honestly, still just looking into those beautiful eyes. Marissa took a step closer to me, looked at me pleadingly._

_"Say that you'll forgive me for being stupid. Say you'll marry me one day. Tell me you love me too," she said, looking more adorable in that moment than anyone ever had, in my opinion. I sighed and tried to keep control of my breathing as the beautiful girl stepped toward me. I wanted to tell her all those things, but at the same time it was hard for me to forget the things I had gone through in the ten months before that._

_But before I could say anything to her about that, I realized that she was only inches away from me. And I mean inches. She was closer to me physically than I had allowed anyone but Britt to be in ten months. By then it was impossible to control the beating of my heart or my breathing, but by then I could also hear her erratic breathing, and I swear I could hear the pounding of her heart in her chest._

_"Marissa," I breathed, as she inched closer still. She just looked into my eyes and leant into me, then suddenly her lips were on mine and there was nothing that I could do or that I wanted to do to stop it. She tasted so sweet, felt so amazing as she kissed me deeply, making up for ten lost months. Her hands were caressing my face, her thumbs sweeping across my cheekbones as we kissed, and I found myself after only a moment reacting to her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her flush to me, gripping her thin frame tightly._

_"I forgive you, Marissa. I still love you so much, baby," I said, tears falling from my eyes as I kissed her again. She was crying too, our tears melting into each other as we kissed passionately. The feel of her fingers on my skin was incredible, the feel of her skin again after all that time was absolutely mind-blowing. I knew in that moment, as we kissed again for the first time in so long, that she was the one that I was meant to be with._

_She was the one. The last one. She was it._

------------End Flashback------------


	3. Posterity And The Return To Newport

------------

What a relief it had been to get her back, after all that time. Since that day we haven't been apart for more than three or four days, we have spent every day together and every night we can sleeping next to each other. Her beautiful face is _still_ relaxed, still sleeping. I know that the lack of sleep has been taking a toll on her, and I truly wish that there was something I could do to help her. But there isn't. Not really.

I have the most beautiful wife in the world, and I know that. I've known that all along.

Just as I'm about to slip off into another flashback, I hear a noise coming from the other side of the room. Lifting my head slightly, I look and see the source of the sound, and a smile crosses my face. Carefully, I slip out of bed and tiptoe to the opposite side of our bedroom, peering over the side of the crib at my daughter. The beautiful little girl looks up at me with familiar blue-green eyes, and a smile crosses the infant's face, matching the goofy grin I know I'm sporting.

"Hey baby," I whisper, reaching into the crib and lifting my little girl out carefully. Holding her close to me, I glance over at the bed to be sure that Marissa hasn't awoken, and with my daughter in my arms, I tiptoe out of the bedroom, making my way down the hall to the kitchen.

"You hungry, Liv?" I ask my baby, watching her big blue-green eyes light up when I speak to her. She smiles widely at me, and it kills me to see how much like Marissa she already looks. The baby in my arms is tied with Marissa for being the most important person in my life. They're the best things that have ever happened to me, and I would do anything for either of them.

"Come on, baby, let's get you fed," I say, getting a bottle of breast milk out of the fridge and putting it in the microwave to heat up a little bit. After it's finished, I take it out and squirt some on my forearm to be sure that it's not too hot for my baby. It's perfect, and still cradling the baby in my arms, I smile and give her the bottle, letting her eat as I hold it for her. She's only four months old--not quite old enough to be holding the bottle herself.

Olivia Rose Kelly came to us after many stressful months of appointments at the artificial insemination clinic, then after nine months of Marissa gaining weight and waddling around the house, our baby was born in the hospital in Newport Beach with all Marissa's side of the family there. The Cohens were present as well, along with Summer and Seth's kids, Savannah and Connor. When I came out of the delivery room in those damnable green scrubs, grinning like an idiot, telling them that Marissa had just given birth to our seven-pound, eight-ounce daughter Olivia, everyone had laughed and clapped and hugged and it was one of the sweetest things I had ever seen. It was great to have a support group like that.

As my baby drinks from her bottle, I walk over to the picture window overlooking the ocean. The house we live in isn't far from the first apartment that Marissa and I had lived in together, and overlooks the ocean that I surf every day. Olivia and I look out the window at the sunlight reflecting off the water, and both of us are silent for a few long moments. I would like to think that even at four months old, my daughter is starting to inherit my love of the ocean.

"The beach reminds me of your mommy, Liv," I say softly, looking down at my baby. She looks just like Marissa, down to the crooked little smile on her beautiful little face.

Marissa and I had our first kiss on the beach...I officially proposed to her on the beach, we got married on the beach. All on the same beach. Newport beach holds lots of memories for the two of us.

"Hey, how are my girls this morning?" Marissa's voice coming from behind us startles me a bit, and I turn away from the window, looking at my wife with an instant smile on my face. She's looking absolutely gorgeous with her hair mussed up from bed, wearing only a thin robe over her spaghetti-strapped top and panties.

"Morning, mommy!" I say in the baby-voice that I save just for when our daughter is around. Marissa grins, looking at our baby with the most beautiful look on her face.

"Morning, Livvy! How is my sweetheart? You didn't wake mommy up this morning, did you? You're such a good girl," she coos at our daughter, approaching us and kissing Olivia on the forehead. The baby smiles widely at her mother, who looks into my eyes and gives me a completely different smile than she just gave Liv a few moments ago.

"Morning baby," she whispers, leaning toward me and, careful of the baby between us, kisses me lightly.

"Morning, beautiful...we tried to let you sleep, what are you doing up already?" I ask her. She raises an eyebrow, reaches up and tucks some hair behind my ear.

"Baby, it's nine-thirty. This is the latest I've slept since my second trimester...thank you girls for letting me sleep," she murmurs, kissing me again. I nod, rocking the baby a little bit as she starts to fuss.

"No problem honey...we tried our hardest. We know mommy needs her rest, right Liv?" I say in that baby voice again. Marissa grins at me and Olivia starts calming down, and I can't help but look at the two adoringly. These two are the loves of my life.

"Why don't I take Livvy, and mommy can go have her surf for the day...the waves are looking good today, babe," she says, carefully taking Olivia out of my arms. I smile and hand her over, kissing my wife as I do. Marissa's lips are soft and taste just as good as they did the first time I kissed them, just as sweet as when we got together again after our ten-month seperation.

"I love you Liv," I say, kissing my baby's forehead. Then I can't help but look up at my wife, who is holding our daughter in her slender arms, "and I love you Riss." I kiss her again, unable to keep my eyes off her. She smiles and holds Olivia up a little bit, taking one of her baby hands and making the baby wave to me. I grin at the adorable sight before me even as I back toward the bedroom to change.

"Have fun surfing, mommy!" Marissa says in the baby voice, smiling brilliantly. The butterflies that course through me at the sight of her with our daughter are incredible, even after twelve years of the same woman, I haven't gotten used to her yet.

After changing into my bikini, I grab my boardshorts and rash guard and walk out into the living room on my way out of the house. Marissa and Olivia are nowhere to be seen, and I'm puzzled but not worried--it's a big house and they could be anywhere. Stepping out onto the back deck, I put on my shorts and rash guard, grabbing one of my boards off the rack on the wall. Just as I'm headed off the deck, I spy my wife nursing the baby in one of the deck chairs on the other side of the deck. I smile at her as I walk off the deck onto the beach, blowing her a kiss. She smiles softly at me and blows me a kiss right back, waving with two fingers as she holds Liv with her other arm.

Wading out into the water, I get on my board and begin paddling, getting out toward the breakers and forcing my way past them. Once I'm in the clear zone waiting for a perfect set, I'm able to slip into that state of meditation and deep peace that comes only from being out here or being with my wife and daughter. It's a wonderful sort of mellow time for me, when I just sit and think about everything and nothing all at once. Whenever I'm out here, I think of when I first moved back to Newport from Laguna.

------------Flashback------------

_After giving my two weeks' notice at Aqua and training Britt to do my job, I moved back to Newport. Britt and I parted tearfully, but with promises to visit each other often. I made her promise me that she would ask Lori out before the end of the month. She had, after all, been lusting after the girl for months._

_So I went back to Newport, moving into an apartment near the Bait Shop (where I got my old job back). The first weekend that I was back, Marissa and I stayed in all weekend and made love, ate takeout, and watched tv. It was a great forty hours that we got to have alone together...we both turned out cell phones off and I locked the doors, closed the blinds. We were completely and utterly alone together the entire weekend._

_Monday Marissa wanted us to hang out with her friends, so we left the apartment after about eleven-thirty, headed to meet Summer and Seth for lunch. It was the summer after their senior year of high school, so they were enjoying the time they had before college, hanging out every single day and trying to make the most of the time they still had to be kids. They were nineteen--I understood. And I still had to buy them liquor, so..._

_"I'll drive, babe," Marissa said to me, kissing me on the lips and grabbing her keys. I nodded, kissing her back and getting into the car. We drove to the Crab Shack, where Seth and Summer already waited for us._

_"Alex, hey! How the hell are you?" Summer asked me, hugging me (yeah, shocking)._

_"Hey Summer! Nice to see you too," I said to her, hugging her back and laughing. Marissa laughed and stood to the side as Summer hugged the hell out of me, then when she let me go my girl grabbed me back, wrapped a slender arm around my waist._

_"Come on baby, you're with me," she said, gripping me possessively. I smiled at her and watched the look on Seth's face as he observed the closeness between Marissa and I._

_"Wow," he mumbled, wincing as Summer punched him in the ribs. Marissa and I laughed, and she leant over and kissed me softly...the kiss deepened as we stepped in the door of the Crab Shack and we stumbled to the table we were to sit at, sliding into the booth without parting lips. Marissa's hand was hooked around my neck and she was holding me as close as she possibly could, considering the setting we were in, as we kissed. Summer looked at Seth and Marissa._

_"Why don't you guys go order our food? Alex and I will wait here for you," Summer said, surprising all of us. But instead of saying anything, Marissa kissed me softly and got up, went with Seth to the counter to get our lunch, harassing him all the way about being a perv. I looked over at Summer, who was watching me with a smile._

_"You make Marissa really happy, Alex," she told me, her serious tone of voice startling me slightly. I nodded, bit my lower lip and looked intently into her eyes._

_"She makes me really happy too. I'm glad we're together again," I said. Summer nodded, looking at me carefully._

_"You know...she was a wreck after you left. The whole time you were gone, actually...I think today is the first time I've seen her smile since before you left Newport," she said. I raised an eyebrow, having been unaware of the fact that Marissa was apparently miserable when I was gone._

_"I...wasn't happy without her either...but I didn't know things were that bad for her," I said. Summer nodded, looked briefly at the tabletop. Then her eyes turned back to me._

_"A lot of stuff has happened since you've been gone...things with Ryan and his brother Trey. You should ask her about it. I think you're the only one she'll let help her. She's been through a lot and all I know is that she's not talking to me about any of it," she said, looking worried. I frowned, now incredibly concerned about Marissa and what had happened while I was away. Guilt shot through me, I should have been there, should have protected her._

_"I'll talk to her about it. But...why are you telling me all this? Have things really been that bad?" I asked. Summer looked more solemn than I had ever seen her, and she nodded._

_"Yeah. They have. She...she cries for you at night, Alex. When she's sleeping...she like sobs your name. Then when she wakes herself up she's looking for you in the bed but when I'm there I have to tell her that you're gone. Coop cries herself back to sleep," Summer said, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. She was so choked up at the pain Marissa had been going through...and Marissa had been going through so much pain. A brief second of panic hit me and I thought that Marissa and I needed to go get married right that second, to solidify the fact that I wasn't going anywhere ever again and I would always be there for her. Summer looked up at me, wiping the tears from her face._

_"I don't know what to say, Summer," I told her, looking her in the eyes. She nodded, took a breath._

_"You don't have to say anything. Just don't leave our girl again, okay?" she said, more than asked. I nodded, eager to let her know that I wouldn't be repeating my mistakes from before. She was concerned about her best friend, just as I was concerned for my lover...but with both of us looking out for Marissa I knew she would be okay._

_"I won't. I promise, I'm not going anywhere ever again unless she's going with me," I said, with all the seriousness that Summer had shown earlier. She smiled a little and nodded, satisfied. Just as she did, Marissa and Seth came back to the table, carrying drinks. Marissa put my Coke down in front of me and slid into the booth beside me, looking at me adoringly with those beautiful blue-green eyes. I smiled at her weakly, still thinking of what Summer had said. What could have happened with Ryan and his brother that was so devastating?_

_"Are you okay?" she asked me softly, reaching a hand up and caressing my cheek. She looked concerned. I nodded, tears beginning to come to my eyes as I thought of the things she had gone through in my absence--sobbing my name in her sleep, looking for me in the bed only to find that I wasn't there anymore...it was almost too much._

_"I'm okay, now that I'm with you. I love you," I told her, looking directly into her gorgeous eyes. She smiled widely at me, leant forward just a bit and kissed me delicately on the lips. I kissed her back, wanting her to know exactly how much she meant to me and that I would never leave again. A conversation about all that would come up later, but for that moment kissing her would have to be enough._

_When we seperated, she looked at me a bit oddly. Probably because I had just kissed her passionately in the middle of a restaurant, in front of Seth and Summer, who were sitting there trying not to watch us._

_"I love you too, Alex. I love you too," she told me, that soft beautiful smile at the edges of her lips._

------------End Flashback------------


	4. It's Been Too Long, But We're Worked Out

AN: Just to warn you, this chapter is the reason that this story is rated M...just letting you know so you're not surprised.

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The water is the clearest blue that I've ever seen, and the waves are gorgeous today. I let them roll under my board, waiting for the perfect one to come along so I can ride back in to the shore, back to my wife and child. I've been out here for two hours already, and caught four amazing waves in that time. And I have to say, they were more than worth the time that I had to wait for them, like anything good in life is. I feel peaceful, feel happy, and somehow it's like being out here being peaceful makes me appreciate even more the time that I have with the two most important girls in the world. I love it out here, I love being with them...and those things help me bear the rest of my life that isn't so great.

In the distance, I see the beginning of the perfect wave. It's like liquid glass coming toward me, curling into that perfect wave and approaching me slowly. I turn on my board, nose to the shore, and start paddling as the glass gets closer. I catch it right at the bottom, standing on the board and trailing my fingers in the water as I carve across the face of the wave. The water feels wonderfully smooth under my fingertips, and my hot skin is cooled by the shadow of the wave I'm riding.

This perfect wave brings me nearly in to the shore, and when I've hopped off the board and into the water to cool off, I stay under for a moment, eyes closed and mind centered on the wave I just dismounted...it was a beautiful wave.

When I come back up, I break through the surface and smooth my hair back from my face, grabbing my board before any more waves come along and knock it into me. Walking in the shallow water, I grab the board and carry it under my arm until I'm out of the water completely, the tide coming in around my ankles and then not at all. The wet sand sticks to my feet as I walk away from the water, heading toward the house slowly.

It takes a couple minutes, but when I reach the porch I prop my board up against the wall and rinse it off with the hose, rinsing myself off as well. Peeling my shorts and rash guard off, I look up just in time to see the screen door open and my beautiful wife step out. I smile at her, tossing my shorts and rash guard over the plastic rack I keep for them to dry on. Marissa closes the door behind her, setting the baby monitor on the table and smiling at me as I put my board back on the wall rack with the rest of them.

"Hey babe...did you have a good time?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest and watching me.

"I had a _great_ time...it's beautiful out there today, Riss...you should go out later," I say, reminding her like I often do that she likes to surf too. She forgets sometimes--ever since she got pregnant she's had kind of a one-track mind. She smiles beautifully at me, nodding and looking out at the ocean that I just got out of.

"Maybe I'll do that," she says quietly, looking back at me. I can't help but notice the way that her eyes wander over my body, and that fact brings a huge smile to my face, brings goosebumps up on my skin. She looks almost in awe, her beautiful eyes (which are looking more blue right now than green) are wide and shining, drinking in the sight of me as if we were kids again, as if we still lived off one another's touch.

"How can you do that?" I ask her, my voice raspy from the things running through me right now. My girl smiles slightly, her eyes traveling lazily back up to mine as she steps in my direction. Her steps are small, slow, and she approaches me much like that perfect, glassy wave did just ten minutes earlier. I can't help but notice that she's still wearing only the thin robe over panties and spaghetti-strapped top...she looks amazing.

"How can I do what?" she asks, her voice low...the tone of it doubles the number of goosebumps on my body, and I swear to God that she gets sexier every day. Her eyes are still burning into me, and I want to kiss her so badly right now that it hurts.

"How can you look at me that way...like you can't get enough of me? It's been twelve years," I breathe. A sly smile creeps farther across her lips and she reaches out to me, resting her hands on my hips as she steps closer still. I can feel her body heat, her breath, I can smell her scent--a unique mixture of her mango shampoo and the pear bodywash she uses. Her skin smells heavenly, just as it has since she was seventeen.

"I can look at you that way because you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...and because I am _so_ in love with you," she whispers, her voice low and soft. The feel of her hands on my nearly bare hips is electric, and as she rubs her thumbs over my hipbones I think I may collapse right here and now. She leans down slightly, looking intently into my eyes still.

"Olivia?" I breathe, making sure before I kiss her that we aren't going to be interrupted any time soon. Marissa smiles, sliding her thumbs under the string of my bikini bottoms.

"Sleeping," she whispers into my lips. She kisses me softly on the lips, really just a nip, and pushes me slowly against the wall. Taking her lips away from mine, she brushes her nose against mine and just looks deeply into my eyes. Her thumbs creep farther north, pulling on the string straps of my bottoms and somehow turning me on by doing it. I kiss her, leaning up just slightly and catching her lips with mine, catching her lower lip between my teeth lightly and then kissing her again.

"What are we doing?" I breathe, kissing her again. She smiles into my lips, her thumbs leaving the straps of my bottoms alone and creeping underneath the fabric covering my ass. Her fingers dance over my salty skin, warming the previously-chilled flesh and creating a marvelous ache between my legs.

"We're having sex for the first time in months," she says, grasping my ass in her hands and pulling me flush to her. Moaning, I kiss her deeply, pushing my tongue past her lips and sliding my hands up her slim arms, finally making it to her shoulders and pushing the robe she's wearing off her. It slides down her arms and she removes her hands from me long enough to let the robe fall to the ground. She kisses me eagerly, her hands right back on me as soon as the robe is off her.

"Oh my God, I've been dying to do this for so long it's ridiculous," I tell her, sliding my hands up the back of her shirt and feeling her gorgeous skin.

"So have I...I want to take this slow and everything but I don't know if I can, baby," she moans, her hands on either side of my face, thumbs caressing my skin as she kisses me between every few words. I smile, shaking my head and kissing her at the same time.

"It's okay, there'll be time for that later," I whisper, hooking my thumbs in the sides of her panties. She nods, reaching back down my body to the ties at the sides of my bikini bottoms and undoing them quickly. The fabric falls off me and suddenly I'm half-naked on the back porch, completely open to her hungry eyes. She kneels down slowly, her lips creating a hot trail down my chest, then my stomach. When she reaches my swollen outer lips, she lets her tongue poke out and I almost lose it right here and now.

"Oh my God, Riss," I moan, tangling my fingers in her hair as she spreads my legs slightly wider so she can get to more of me. Her tongue flicks across my clit, and I nearly come off the floor--I haven't felt her like this in such a long time. As she's pleasuring me the way that only she has ever been able to, I let my eyes drift shut and start succumbing to her.

Then, out of nowhere, I realize that it _has_ been months since we've had sex...and as crazy as I've been going in that time, as horny as I've been, _Marissa_ was the one that carried our baby and had to give birth. Her body has been through a tremendous amount of stuff in the past few months, and I know that the stress on her has been incredible. So why am I letting her go down on me? I should be making her scream right now, relieving all the crazy hormones that I know have been raging in her body through the past months.

"Baby, baby wait," I say, looking down at her as she looks up at me. Her blue eyes are dark with lust and I have honestly never wanted her more than I do right now, seeing her down there with her fingers and tongue playing with me.

"What's wrong?" she asks me, looking concerned. I shake my head, moving my hands so they're cupping her face, and I bring her back up so we're facing each other eye to eye.

"Nothing's wrong...I just realized that we should be doing this to each other...we should be doing this together. Let me touch you too, baby," I whisper. She raises an eyebrow and smiles sexily, biting her lower lip and nodding. Her lips are glistening from the things she was just doing to me, and before I get to getting her off, I kiss her deeply. Tasting myself on her lips, I grin and reach down, pushing her panties down her long, gorgeous legs.

She steps out of them, kicking them away to rest with my bikini bottoms on the deck. Our hands simultaneously creep down each other's bodies, wandering between each other's legs. Looking straight into my beautiful wife's eyes, I slip two fingers into her hot, wet body at the same time as she does the same to me, penetrating me for the first time since before our daughter was born. Both of us gasp at the feeling, slowly beginning to pump in and out of each other's bodies. Marissa hooks her right leg around my hip, and we lean against the wall of the house and make love hard and fast, bringing quiet moans and gasps from each other.

"Alex, I've missed the feel of you inside me," Marissa breathes, her blue eyes almost black with passion. I nod, biting my lower lip.

"I've missed you too, baby," I pant. We begin thrusting harder and faster into each other, both of us getting closer and closer to what we've been missing for months. Her breath is coming in short gasps at the point, her arm moving faster to keep up pace with mine as we get closer.

"Oh God, I'm close," she gasps, resting her forehead on mine. I nod, bumping our heads lightly against each other.

"I know, baby..." I whisper, struggling to keep my eyes open so I can watch her cum. We thrust into each other a few more times, bringing on simultaneous orgasms that rock us both. We both still with our fingers deep inside the other, looking into each other with wide, teary eyes. She cums hard around me, her body convulsing wildly around my fingers as she gasps deeply.

My orgasm releases a lot of long-held tension that's been building in me for a long time. It tears through my body, and I cry out, cumming hard around her fingers too...

After our orgasms pass, we just stare at each other...looking deeply into each other's eyes and breathing hard trying to recover from what just happened. Slowly, we slide our fingers out of each other and she lets her leg fall from my hip. Lifting my fingers to my mouth, I lick them clean; Marissa smiles sexily and does the same, and for about the billionth time since we've been together I realize that this woman will never stop being the sexiest thing on earth. Ever.

"That was fucking amazing," she whispers, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me lightly on the lips. I smile into her kiss, wrapping my arms around her body and holding her closer to me.

"What a mouth on the mother of my child...fucking amazing..." I chuckle, looking into her gorgeous blue-green eyes. She chuckles too, kissing me again.

"Well it was--I can't help it if my wife is the sexiest thing I've ever seen...And that was my first orgasm in almost six months, Al, what did you want me to say?" she laughs. I shrug, kissing her and smiling too.

"I guess that was good...I love you so much, baby," I tell her, kissing her again.

"I love you too, so much," she whispers into my lips, her arms around my neck.

Gradually, we seperate and I pick up my bikini bottoms and her panties, handing her the panties and watching her slowly put them on, her eyes on me the entire time. I grin and look at my bottoms, which are looking like a complicated mess that I don't want to even figure out how to put back on. Sighing and tossing the bottoms onto the drying rack, I untie my top as well, tossing that too.

Seeing me standing naked before her for the first time in months, Marissa's eyes widen and she licks her lips, immediately kissing me fiercely. Her hands trail down my body, stopping at my breasts. Her hands are massaging me before I can even respond, and I let my head fall back at the sheer joy of what I'm feeling right now. Pleasure is ripping through my body in waves, and though it's been only five minutes since I had a massive orgasm, I feel almost ready to have another.

Suddenly, as she's rolling her skilled fingers over one incredibly sensitive nipple, the baby monitor starts crying...Olivia is awake. Marissa immediately stands up straight and looks at the monitor, her maternal instinct conflicting seriously with her desire to have me again. She looks back at me, her big blue-green eyes imploring me...I smile, wanting to laugh at her. She honestly doesn't know what to do; go get the baby or stay here and make me scream for her again.

"Go get her, baby...I'll go take a cold shower," I tell her, kissing her on the lips and smiling at her. Her hand trails from where it was kneading my breast, dropping ot her side.

"Mmm...can we finish this later?" she asks, raising an eyebrow and looking me over again. I grin, nodding and taking her hand.

"Yeah, of course. Maybe Summer will want to babysit later on, huh?" I murmur, leading her back into the house. She smiles and nods, kisses my neck and heads down the hall to get the baby.

Sighing and shaking my hands out, I shake my head and go to the shower, getting in and turning the water on cold. The warm ache between my legs goes away slowly and gradually, after several minutes with the freezing water pouring over me.

While I've got a minute to myself, I can't help but think about how happy I am...I never would have thought that meeting Marissa Cooper would change my life so drastically, and so for the better, but it did. I love her more than life itself and I will for the rest of my life. Olivia too--I never thought I would feel such intense, immediate love for another human being besides Marissa. But things are working out great for us. Things are worked out. I love my life.

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AN: Well, that's it...constructive criticism would be appreciated, let me know how I can do better. Thanks for reading guys, hope you liked it.


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